What is the history of guzheng?

Guzheng is one of the ancient plucked instruments in China, which was formed and spread in Qin Dynasty (mainly in Shaanxi and Gansu) and prevailed in Sui and Tang Dynasties. With the changes of history, it has spread to the whole country and many places in Asia. History is called Qin Zheng. There are different opinions about the origin of guzheng, and there are three main viewpoints: the first one thinks that guzheng originated in Thule. Tang's "Ci Lu" records: "The guzheng player, the flow is also, the piano is also. The ancient musical instrument had fifty strings. Since the Yellow Emperor ordered Motome to beat drums, the emperor was very sad and broke it, and it changed from the later musical instrument to twenty-five strings. Qin people beat the drum and harp, and the brothers fought and broke into two pieces. The name of guzheng began from now on. " Ji Yun in the Song Dynasty said: "Qin people are thin-hearted, and their father and son strive for each other, hence the name. The twelve strings of the guzheng break twenty-five. Japan17th century court musician Gungan recorded in "Le Dao Ji" ... or the cloud: Qin has no meaning. A musical instrument, two women preach, two women argue. Finally, there are two musical instruments, so they are called Zheng. This is just a legend. Two people competed for musical instruments, resulting in "Zheng".

The second view is that the guzheng was created by the famous pianist Meng Tian, or changed by Meng Tian. In 237 BC (the tenth year of Qin Shihuang), Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Dynasty, wrote a letter urging Qin Shihuang to withdraw his order to expel guests. There are two references to the guzheng, namely "playing the guzheng for a long time" and "quitting the guzheng to avoid danger". This is earlier than the beginning of Meng Tian's prosperity 16 years. Therefore, Meng Tian's statement that he made a guzheng is not reliable. There are also negative views on Meng Tian's guzheng in the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty. It can be said that Meng Tian reformed Zheng.

In the Qing Dynasty, Zhu recorded in Shuo Wen Tong Xun: "The five strings of guzheng were applied to bamboo as a building, and Qin changed them to twelve strings, which were deformed like a piano, and bamboo was changed into wood, and thirteen strings were added after the Tang Dynasty." This passage describes that Meng Tian once reformed Zheng.

The third view: the early third view: the early guzheng is a five-stringed bamboo Zheng, which was built with a stringed instrument. For example, Ying Shao's "Customs Pass" in the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "Guzheng has five strings, and it is made by the body." Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty (revised edition of Xu Xuan in the Song Dynasty) records: "Guzheng, drum and string, bamboo music, from bamboo, contend for sound."

From the historical data, the early guzheng is more similar to Zhu: both are Zhu, all are bamboo and all are five strings. The name of the guzheng was interpreted by Liu Xi in the book Ming Jie in the Eastern Han Dynasty as: "Guzheng, the string is high and urgent, and the guzheng is natural." It can be seen that the guzheng is named after its own "clank, clank" sound. Guzheng probably comes from a simple musical instrument with less than five strings made of large bamboo tubes. S when in the Spring and Autumn Warring States or before the Spring and Autumn Warring States, it is impossible to be in the Qin Dynasty after Qin Shihuang unified China. The relationship among guzheng, architecture and musical instruments is neither divided into guzheng nor evolved from architecture to guzheng, but it is likely that guzheng and musical instruments coexist in the same source. The five-string bamboo zither evolved into a twelve-string wooden zither, and the barrel-shaped chime structure evolved into a long box-shaped chime structure, which may be based on the structure of musical instruments. Guzheng has an ancient history in China. As early as the Warring States Period in the 4th century BC, guzheng was popular in Qin, Qi, Zhao and other countries. Among them, the state of Qin is the most popular, so it is known as "true Qin Zhisheng" and "Qin Zheng". Guzheng is deeply loved by the people, and it is a musical instrument loved by the people. As a passage in Qice of the Warring States Policy says: "Linzi is even real, and its people all play flute, drum and harp, percussion and guzheng." Another example is On Salt and Iron by Sang Hongyang. Dissipate "in the Western Han Dynasty," ... In the past, folk receptions, with their own party customs, only played guzheng and drums. "Visible guzheng popularity among the people. The development of guzheng in Han Dynasty has shown tone sandhi. Hou Jin's Fu Zheng records: "So I hurried to promote the column and changed the tune." Is to move the guzheng column to tune it.

Thirteen-string guzheng was popular in Sui Dynasty. Thirteen-string guzheng was first used in Wendi Yayue. In the guzheng performance in the Sui Dynasty, the methods of shifting the column and transferring the tone were also used: "promoting the transfer of the column" (Wang Taiqing's poem) and "adjusting the palace to promote the column" (ancient fu).

Guzheng was widely used in the music of Tang Dynasty and spread to Japan. In 834 AD (the eighth year of Taihe in Tang Wenzong), the Japanese sent the ambassador of the Tang Dynasty, Zhenmin Fujiwara, to China to learn from the famous pipa player Liu Erlang. Jiro married his wife, and Jiro's daughter is a famous guzheng player. Six years later, she and Fujiwara went to Japan. In 889 (the Year of the Loong, Tang Zhaozong), the Tang Dynasty sent Dr. Huang Meng, a guzheng player, to Japan to lead a 62-member band to teach the art of guzheng, which set off an upsurge of guzheng performance in North Korea, and the emperor and ministers also learned the art of guzheng. In the following thousands of years, Zheng gradually became the main instrument of Japanese national music, resulting in many schools of performance and Zheng music. At present, a recovered Zheng has been collected by the Japanese Institute and has become a rare specimen in the world.

Guzheng was also popular in Song Dynasty. Song Chenyang's "Le Shu Song Shi Yue Ji" records: "The thirteen instruments of this dynasty are not elegant." Fifteen-stringed Zheng appeared in Ming Dynasty, but thirteen-stringed Zheng is still the most popular. According to "Dunhuang Records of the Ming Dynasty", "Boyi, a disciple seeking faith, is good at playing the zither, and sad songs can make people cry; Changing the tune can make relatives dance. This time is called Yongmen Week. "

The Zheng in Qing Dynasty had a new development. It is worth noting that the fourteen-stringed Zheng of the Qing Dynasty has used seven tones. "Law and Lu Zhengyi" recorded that "the Zheng is as small as a piano and has fourteen strings. ……; The columns and strings in the Sui Palace are arranged harmoniously. The whole body is painted with lacquer wood gold, and the four sides are painted with golden dragons. The beams and tail edges are decorated with red sandalwood, and the string holes are decorated with ivory ... Today, the fourteen strings of the Zheng are changed from five tones to two to seven tones, which is fourteen times. " Here, "the pentatonic is changed from two to seven and multiplied by fourteen", that is, the pentatonic scale is fixed. According to another record, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, four musical instruments, such as Zheng, were used to play Pingsha Wild Goose, which was adapted by Emperor Kangxi according to piano music. At that time, there were people who used guzheng solo to tune "Moon Wind". Zheng is also widely used in national instrumental music and rap music. By the end of Qing Dynasty, the Zheng had developed to 16 strings. In Guangdong, some people borrowed from the dulcimer and replaced the silk strings used for more than 2,000 years with the copper strings on the 16 string zither, thus making the timbre of the zither change greatly. This kind of several-string Zheng has been in use until now, and it was only in the 1930s that steel strings were used.

In the long-term historical development, guzheng gradually spread to all parts of the country, forming different playing styles and local schools, such as Henan Guzheng, Shandong Guzheng, Chaozhou Guzheng and Hakka Guzheng. In Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, the guzheng evolved into a Ga 'aiqin. Guzheng also spread to North Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other countries.

According to the records, the traditional guzheng music includes Sang, Great Harmony in the World, Swimming in the Western Western jackdaw, Running Water in the Mountains, Lotus Out of the Water, Flowers in the Brocade, etc. There are 24 handwritten records of "Zheng Yue" circulating among the people, but there has never been a formal publication of "Zheng Yue". It was not until 1930 that the book Quasi-Zheng Music edited by Mr. Liang Zaiping was published.

Guzheng is not only used for solo, but also plays an important role in traditional instrumental ensemble and local opera accompaniment. For example, there are guzheng in the traditional ensemble of Chaozhou music in Guangdong, such as thirteen sets of chords and Henan Bantou music. Zheng is one of the indispensable main musical instruments in Henan Quju. Shaanxi's Yulin ditty is also accompanied by A Zheng.

In recent years, the performance art of guzheng has developed by leaps and bounds. Various experiments have also been carried out in the reform of guzheng, resulting in a variety of high-quality exquisite Zheng (such as Sichuan Zheng, Shanghai Zheng and Suzhou Zheng); The modes of guzheng have also been tried in many ways, and many modes have been reformed (such as Yingkou tense mode guzheng, Shenyang Conservatory of Music shift mode guzheng, Suzhou string-cutting mode guzheng, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music butterfly-changing guzheng), which has expanded the manifestations of guzheng and made it easier for guzheng to participate in ensemble and accompaniment.